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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Jared Fogle, the Subway sandwich guy, met with sixth-grade students at Salt Lake Elementary School yesterday as part of a health education teachers conference. He posed with the students with the 60-inch pants he used to wear. He wears size 34 now.

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Web site offers
tips to stay active

The state and HMSA sponsor
a program to promote kids' fitness

Children, parents and teachers can "Get Healthy Now" by visiting an interactive Web site offering everything from recipes to free pedometers for youngsters to track their steps.

"An alarming 25 percent of Hawaii's children are overweight," said Michael Stollar, HMSA's vice president of corporate communications. "We hope that Get Healthy Now will reduce this rate and help raise awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle."

Get Healthy Now is a statewide educational campaign to promote healthy lifestyles and combat child obesity in Hawaii. It was created by Melanie Kosaka, president of First Daughter Mediaworks, with support from HMSA and other sponsors.

"Good health habits are one of the best gifts you can give your child," Kosaka said. "Our mission is to empower families with the right amount of motivation and information."

The Web site, launched yesterday, offers tips and activities for families, lesson plans for teachers, games and fun facts for kids, recipes from top chefs, and profiles of people such as decathlete Bryan Clay. Web site calendars will be updated monthly, and new activities will be posted seasonally.

Gov. Linda Lingle, Mayor-elect Mufi Hannemann and other notables have agreed to help promote the effort by strapping on pedometers and letting people log on to the Web site to find out how many steps they take in a day.

Classes in kindergarten through third grade that register on the Get Healthy Now Web site will receive a free pedometer for each child to keep track of their weekly activity. Those that meet their goals by taking part in various activities earn a "Step to a Party" from Subway Hawaii and Jamba Juice.

"Using pedometers in the school setting gives teachers an accurate way to determine the activity levels of children and teaches children that all activity is good and that they don't have to be athletically gifted to be active," said Charles Morgan, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa who developed the curriculum for the Web site. "Plus, kids love wearing them."

Morgan has adapted a Physical Activity Pyramid for children in Hawaii as part of the project. He suggests: